General Requirements in Old Iranian

The following are basic requirements applying to all undergraduate and graduate students concentrating in Old Iranian: Iranian 161A, 161B, and 161C: Introduction to Middle Persian; Iranian 110A, 110B, 110C: Iranian Civilization: Introduction to the history of Ancient Iran; Iranian 170: Introduction to Zoroastrianism. In addition, knowledge of modern Persian is required of all students.

The following are basic requirements in the various graduate special fields:

Graduates specializing in Old Iranian languages and literature must take: two quarters of Old Persian (Iranian 230A, 230B). At least a second year of Advanced Middle Persian (Iranian 231A, 231B, 231C) will be required of graduate concentrators on top of Iranian 161A, 161B, 161C. Depending on their interests, students may be required to take one or more courses in Avestan (Iranian 230A-B) and in Middle Iranian: Sogdian, Khotanese, Bactrian.

Graduates specializing in Iranian Religions will be required to study two quarters of Avestan (Iranian 230A-B) and two years of Middle Persian (Iranian 161A-C and Iranian 231A-C), in addition to primary texts and secondary literature on the subject; those specializing in Manichean religion will need in-depth knowledge of Middle Persian, Parthian, and possibly Sogdian.

Graduates specializing in Iranian history should take two quarters of Old Persian, and two years of Middle Persian, but will be also required to have a good knowledge of Greek and Latin, and depending upon their focus, may also be required adequately to be acquainted with Elamite, Aramaic, and Akkadian (Achaemenid and Arsacid history), as well as with Bactrian, Arabic, Armenian, and Syriac (Sasanian history).